(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the anticancer composition containing an effective amount of herbal extract, and more particularly to the anticancer composition is containing an effective amount of extract of Salviae Miltiorrhizae Radix, Chrysanthemum indicum, Acanthopanax senticosus, Cinnamomum cassia Blume, Eucommia ulmoides Oliv., Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch, Pueraria thunbergiana Benth, Crataegus pinnatifida Bunge, Cassia tora, Carthamus tinctorius L., Paeonia lactiflora Pall. and Angelica gigas Nakai. 
(b) Background of the Related Art
Metastasis is a complex series of steps including cancer cell growth, degradation of outer membrane protein, movement of cells into the circulatory system through basement membrane and the growth of secondary tumors at sites distant from a primary tumor.
The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a large family of zinc-dependent endoproteinases whose primary function is the degradation of proteins in the extracellular matrix (ECM). MMPs play a role in a wide range of tumoenesis, including early carcinogenic events, tumor growth, tumor invasion and metastasis.
Among the MMPs, the two gelatinase enzymes, MMP-2 (gelatinase A/72 kDa type IV collagenase) and MMP-9 (gelatinase B/92 kDa type IV collagenase) are key enzymes that participate in the degradation of type IV collagen, a major component of basement membrane (BM), and are considered to play critical functions in tumor progression during tumor invasion and metastasis. Although these two enzymes have similar substrate specificities, MMP-2 is constitutively expressed regardless of stimulation by cytokines or growth factors, whereas the synthesis and secretion of MMP-9 showing low expression levels in most cancer cells can be induced by a variety of stimuli, including cytokines, growth factors and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) during various pathological processes such as tumor invasion, atherosclerosis, inflammation and arthritis.
The enhanced expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 is correlated with increased metastatic potential in many cancer types including melanoma, breast, prostate and brain carcinomas, indicating that regulation of these enzyme activities is clearly a key step in tumor invasion.
Therefore, the inhibition of MMP-9, with the aim of suppressing tumor cell migration or invasion, could be a potential and effective therapeutic strategy for prevention and treatment of cancer metastasis.
A number of MMP inhibitors have been developed for the treatment of cancer and most of these MMP inhibitors including synthetic peptides, chemically modified tetracyclines, and bisphosphonates are reported to exert side effects such as musculoskeletal pain in tendons and joints.
Because a lot of anti-cancer medicines including MMP inhibitors have high cytotoxicity and side effects, recently, a traditional Chinese prescription is coming to the attention in new sauce of a anti-cancer medicine. Besides, possibility of medicinal herbs as treatment medicine is raised while molecular mechanisms suppressing expression and secretion of MMP-9 are known.
Accordingly, the present inventors have many efforts to develop composition which has excellent MMP inhibitory effects from herbal extracts, as result, have found that JNP-9, which is composed of 12 herbal ingredients specifically suppresses PMA-induced MMP-9 expression, thereby completing the present invention.